


Excuse Me, Do You Have a Boyfriend?

by Yersina



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Alternate Universe - High School, F/M, School Dances, minho's a girl in this one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-15
Updated: 2020-06-15
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:27:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24728935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yersina/pseuds/Yersina
Summary: Jisung opens his mouth to reply, but his attention snags on the girl currently walking past the lunchroom, arms full with notebooks and binders and probably on her way to class. Even in their uniform greys, Jisung could swear that she somehow managed to glow ethereally in the fluorescent light of the lunchroom. He’d once spent an entire afternoon trying to come up with the best description for one Minhee Lee, but the best he’d come up with wasdevastatingly beautiful.“Anyway, I have a proposition,” Hyunjin says, with enough emphasis on ‘proposition’ that Jisung can almost hear a capital ‘p’. “Ask Minhee Lee to the year end dance.”
Relationships: Han Jisung | Han/Lee Minho | Lee Know
Kudos: 73





	Excuse Me, Do You Have a Boyfriend?

**Author's Note:**

> if i had a penny for every time i impulse wrote a fic at midnight i would have several pennies. 
> 
> set in an american hs (even though it switches the first and last names... sacrifices had to be made) with 00’s in one grade and hyung line in the grade above them, about to graduate. shamelessly inspired by jisung's "jeogiya noona hokshi namjachingu isseoyo?"

Jisung should’ve known something was wrong as soon as he stole a bite of Hyunjin’s lunch and didn’t immediately get smacked.

“What’s up?” he asked, chewing on a slice of gimbap. Hyunjin’s mom always packed extra since she knew Jisung liked them. “Have you done the science homework yet?”

“Gonna be doing it with Seungmin tonight,” Hyunjin replies absentmindedly, staring at some point over Jisung’s shoulder. Jisung finally gives into the temptation and cranes his neck around, but all he sees is the far wall of the lunchroom, bulletin boards covered edge to edge with various colorful flyers. “Hey, the year end dance is coming up.”

Jisung snorts and turns back to the lunch table so he can pick at his food. “Is that what you’re staring at?” The student government had really outdone themselves this year in terms of ugly posters—the offending piece of paper was so big, it couldn’t even fit on the bulletin board, and was instead taped to the wall. “So what if it’s coming up? We never go to that thing anyway.”

Hyunjin tears his eyes away from the poster and frowns at Jisung. “Don’t you think we should go at least once? It’s part of the high school experience and everything.”

Jisung opens his mouth to reply, but his attention snags on the girl currently walking past the lunchroom, arms full with notebooks and binders and probably on her way to class. Even in their uniform greys, Jisung could swear that she somehow managed to glow ethereally in the fluorescent light of the lunchroom. He’d once spent an entire afternoon trying to come up with the best description for one Minhee Lee, but the best he’d come up with was _devastatingly beautiful._

It wasn’t even that she was pretty, really. Jisung was friends with Hyunjin—he was used to pretty. No, Minhee was _nice._ She didn’t show it very often, but Jisung had seen her share her food freely at lunch and heard rumors of how she stayed after at dance practice to help newcomers. Chan had even cheerfully agreed that Minhee was probably one of the nicest people he knew in his grade. 

“Earth to Jisung.” Jisung blinks at Hyunjin’s snap in front of his face, pulling a face to mirror Hyunjin’s annoyed look. Hyunjin looks over his own shoulder and immediately spots what had captured Jisung’s attention. “Minhee Lee, really?” Jisung hums noncommittally. “You know she’s like, way out of your league, right? Like, ‘all stars championship while you’re still in summer camp’ kind of out of your league. Like—”

“Yeah, I know,” Jisung interrupts. He pokes sullenly at his lunch. “Part of the high school experience, right? Getting a crush on the most unattainable girl in the school?”

“Hey, I didn’t mean it like that,” Hyunjin says weakly. Jisung feels vindictive enough to let him sit in his guilt for the rest of their lunch period, taking big bites so he has an excuse not to say anything. 

It’s with five minutes until the bell rings that Hyunjin shifts and leans over the table so he can shake Jisung’s shoulder excitedly. “Hey, hey, snap out of your sad emo moodiness.” 

Jisung flails at him until Hyunjin lets go with an outraged yelp, straightening his shirt with a glare. “This moodiness was your fault.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Hyunjin says dismissively and leans back across the table. “I have an idea.”

“Vetoed,” Jisung says immediately. “The last time you had an idea, my cat was red for a week.”

“That was totally worth it, and you know it.” Hyunjin flaps his hand around in the way that people do in movies when they want to wave away a topic, but instead of seeming cool, Jisung thinks he looks more like his hand is having spasms. “Anyway, I have a proposition,” he says, with enough emphasis on ‘proposition’ that Jisung can almost hear a capital ‘p’. “Ask Minhee Lee to the year end dance.”

Jisung stares. “I didn’t think you could come up with anything worse than getting Byeolie red for a week, but I stand corrected.”

“Hear me out—Minhee’s in her last year, right? And it’s the year _end_ dance. What’s the worst that could happen? She turns you down and goes back to not noticing your presence? You have nothing to lose.” Hyunjin sits back in his seat, obviously satisfied with himself. “And if she says yes, you’ll have a date with one of the prettiest girls in the school.”

“Yeah, well, you’re forgetting one thing, doofus,” Jisung says as he gathers his things and prepares to head to class. “She probably already has a boyfriend. I might as well save myself the embarrassment.”

“You don’t know that,” Hyunjin calls after him. “Think about it!”

* * *

Jisung does nothing but think about it for the next day and a half. The thing is, he _doesn’t_ know if Minhee has a boyfriend. She has a lot of friends and she’s the type to wave every now and then to the people that she knows when they cross paths in the hallway, but Jisung hasn’t noticed her being particularly close with any one person. Chan might be the only exception to that rule, but Chan is also somehow close with everyone, so Jisung tentatively scratches him off the list.

He’s not even in the worst position to ask her to the dance. Most of the time, people are invisible to each other across years, but Jisung is friends with both Chan and Changbin, and he’s had a few polite conversations with Minhee when they happened to be staying late for extracurriculars. He’s pretty sure she knows his name, at least.

“A great recipe for a date,” Jisung groans into the open pages of his textbook. “I’m not even sure if she knows my name.”

“What are you groaning on about now,” Hyunjin asks irritably, looking up from his calculator. 

Jisung plants his face back into the shadowy depths of the crack between the halves of his textbook and smells the musty pages, wondering if he can suffocate himself like this. “Minhee Lee.”

“What about Minhee?” Both of them ignore Felix.

“You’re still agonizing over that?” Hyunjin asks incredulously. Jisung peels his face off the glossy pages so he can glare at him. “Just ask her out already.”

“What’s this about Jisung asking out Minhee Lee?” Seungmin interjects, glancing between Hyunjin and Jisung. 

Jisung grimaces. “Hyunjin said I should ask Minhee to the dance—right after saying that she was out of my league, I might add.” Hyunjin just sticks his tongue out at Jisung.

“Oh.” Seungmin looks startlingly thoughtful about this idea. “Why not give it a shot?”

“Uh, because I might spontaneously combust?” Jisung thinks the two uncomprehending expressions he gets are completely unfair. “Felix, back me up here.”

“Minhee’s nice,” he says instead, which is not at all what Jisung was looking for. “She helped me with some choreography once.”

“Yes, I know Minhee is nice,” Jisung says as patiently as possible. “But being nice doesn’t mean I want to ask her to the dance. _Felix_ is nice—I’m not asking him to the dance.” Jisung points at Felix for effect, but Felix just pouts at him. Felix pouting has all the power of ten dogs looking up at you mournfully. 

“You don’t want to go to the dance with me?” Jisung knows Felix is fake sniffling, but it’s annoyingly effective.

“That’s not—I mean—” Jisung sputters and groans angrily when the rest of the table laughs at him. “See, I can’t even do it right with Felix, and that wasn’t even real. How would I ask Minhee?”

“Ask Minhee what?” Jisung just about jumps out of his skin at the new voice behind him, throwing himself around in his chair and nearly giving himself whiplash. “Whoa, sorry for scaring you.” Chan winces apologetically as Jisung rubs his neck. “I keep forgetting how jumpy you can be.”

“It’s fine,” Jisung sighs. “I’m used to it.”

“If you say so,” Chan says, still looking contrite. “I just heard Minhee’s name so I thought I’d come ask what you guys were talking about.”

“Jisung’s going to ask Minhee to the year end dance,” Felix announces brightly. Jisung very regretfully adds him to his ‘to kill’ list, right behind Hwang Hyunjin for starting this whole mess to begin with and Tommy Hill for stealing and eating his apple in the fourth grade. “But he’s still nervous about it.”

Much to his dismay, Chan also doesn’t look as doubtful of this as he should. “Oh, I see. Well, good luck, Jisung!” 

Jisung just sighs and faceplants back into his textbook. “Thanks.”

* * *

A week later finds Jisung wandering through empty school halls, biding time before the late buses arrive in fifteen minutes. His small group ensemble had only met for half of their usual time, since they’d all mastered the piece earlier than anticipated and their performance wasn’t for another month. 

He’s walking past the trophy cases, reading the plaques with half an eye when he notices a figure at the end of the hall that rapidly crystalizes into the likeness of Minhee Lee. He freezes, wondering if he should wave hi or somehow show acknowledgment, but she solves the problem for him.

“Hi, Jisung,” she greets, coming to a stop next to Jisung. “Staying late to practice again?”

“Oh, you remembered?” He’s surprised. He could’ve sworn they had that conversation last year.

Minhee laughs, and Jisung thinks he swoons a little at the high pitched giggles. “Hard to forget someone talking to you about classical music for ten minutes before rushing off to catch the bus.”

Jisung flushes. He wonders if it’s possible to add your own past self to your ‘to kill’ list without creating a paradox. “Oh, sorry about that.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Minhee’s eyes reflect the lights in the trophy case, making it seem like they’re glittering. “At least it made a strong impression.”

Jisung laughs along, but he still can’t shake the nervous jitters that crawl through his bones. If he’s going to do it, this is the perfect chance. They’re alone, so Jisung doesn’t have an audience to embarrass himself in front of, and when it goes badly, he can just escape home. “Um,” he starts, voice trembling. He stares up at Minhee for all of one second, meeting her dark, inquisitive eyes, before deciding that the view of his shoes is better. His stomach is twisting itself in knots, flipping over and over like a shirt in a washing machine, and his lungs feel like they’re being compressed into nothingness. “I have... something to ask you... I-I think.” 

“You think?” Minhee echoes with a trace of amusement. 

Jisung thinks he might spontaneously combust. “I do.”

Minhee shifts her weight and god, Jisung’s cheeks are on fire. Is he even breathing? He thinks he might be lightheaded. “Well, what was it that you wanted to ask me?”

Jisung takes a deep breath, trying to settle his nerves, but it just flutters the wings of butterflies stirring in his chest. “I—you—are,” he stammers before finally blurting out, “Do you have a boyfriend?” He can feel the regret in his _toes,_ and now he knows what it feels like to die a little inside. “Ah, wait, no, that was too forward, that’s not what I meant—”

“Whoa, calm down, Jisung,” Minhee says, laughing a bit of that downright adorable giggle. If this goes on, Jisung is going to start hyperventilating. “No, I don’t have a boyfriend. Why do you ask?”

Jisung chances a glance upwards and ducks his head again when he spots Minhee’s gentle but expectant look. “Um, my friends said I should ask you to the year end dance,” he mumbles to the ground. He’s never noticed how intensely drab their tile floor is before. “And I said you probably have a boyfriend who’s gonna take you, since you’re like, y'know,” Jisung blindly gestures in Minhee’s direction, hoping it comes off as complimentary and not just random flailing. “So I wasn’t even planning on asking you but here you are and you don’t have a boyfriend, so. Um. Do you want to go to the year end dance with me?” Jisung knows what the answer’s going to be even before the long awkward silence. “That’s alright, I wasn’t originally planning on going anyway—”

“Jisung,” Minhee interrupts. Jisung startles at the soft touch on his shoulder and looks up at Minhee’s slightly amused face. “I wasn’t planning on going to the dance either.”

“Oh.” That wasn’t a possibility that Jisung had considered.

“Do you...” Now it’s Minhee hesitating, and Jisung’s eyes have to be as wide as saucers. “Since I’m not going to the dance, do you maybe want to get coffee sometime?” Jisung’s almost entirely certain that he’s gaping unattractively right now. “Or there’s a great bubble tea place down the street in the town center.”

“Yeah, I know,” Jisung says faintly. “You don’t have to go on, like, a pity date with me, you know. I really was expecting you to turn me down for the dance, so it’s fine—”

“Jisung,” Minhee interrupts again. This time she does it with a smile, and Jisung really does swoon a little bit. “I wouldn’t offer if I didn’t want to, trust me.” 

“Oh, okay.” Jisung’s at a complete and utter loss for words. 

“Maybe I want to hear you talk about classical music for longer than ten minutes this time,” Minhee says slyly and Jisung feels faint because _Minhee Lee_ is teasing him right now. “Here, give me your number.” Jisung hands over his phone without thinking and watches blankly as Minhee types in her contact information and sends a text to herself. “That way we can set up a time for the date later,” she explains, and hands the phone back to Jisung. 

Jisung is careful not to touch her when he takes it, because he’s pretty sure if he has skin on skin contact right now, he’s actually going to keel over and die. He might already be dead. “Um, thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” Minhee’s lips thin and quirk up at the edges, and Jisung gets the distinct feeling that he’s being laughed at. Hopefully in a nice way. “You have a bus to catch, right?”

Jisung glances up at the clock in the hallway and curses under his breath. “Yeah, I gotta go, sorry, I—”

“Text me,” Minhee says firmly, pointing at Jisung’s phone. “If you ghost me, I’m not going to forgive you.” 

Jisung quails at the dangerous look in her eyes even though her expression stays pleasant. “Right.” He stands shock-still even though he can feel the seconds trickling through his fingers. “I should go.” 

“You should,” Minhee agrees. She’s definitely laughing at him now. “Bye, Jisung.”

“Bye.” He finally unroots his feet and starts off towards the exit before coming to a stop and turning back. “Um, I’ll see you?” He winces at the way he comes out like a question.

“See you,” Minhee echoes, waving a little bit and grinning at him.

Jisung flees.

He checks his phone once he finds a seat on the school bus, only to find that Minhee has already sent him another message. She set her contact information as Minhee with a bunny emoji next to it, and somehow it’s impossibly cute. 

_Looking forward to our date! ^^_ it says, time stamped to two minutes ago, which means Minhee must have sent it as soon as he’d run off.

Jisung collapses into the grimy plastic seat of the bus, staring out at the clear blue sky, and wonders what he did to get so lucky.

**Author's Note:**

> t minus 1 day to go生!!!
> 
> [tumblr](https://littlenookofnonsense.tumblr.com/) | [twt](https://twitter.com/yersin_a) | [cc](https://curiouscat.me/yersin_a)


End file.
